


gotham's mercy

by Alaneii



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: (implied) canon typical violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Implied Extreme Violence, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mercy - Freeform, Minor Character Death, POV Random Gothamite, Revenge, but like its implied and also he deserves it, implied blunt force trauma, okay so yes this is literally a fic abt killing the joker but theres no violence shown dw, the joker dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28651743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alaneii/pseuds/Alaneii
Summary: The Joker does not deserve to live, and the people of Gotham deserve to kill him.If you agree with me, this is the fic you've been looking for when you want catharsis.
Relationships: Gotham City & Robin, Gothamite & Gotham
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	gotham's mercy

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to my friends for helping me slam this out in just a few hours!! and thank u to my friend deb, who lead to this - i was dramatically denying her mercy and then went "you know what this monologue would be good for?"
> 
> anyhow my friends? iconic. love u all. fuck the joker, may he rot <33

Gotham was not a pretty city. 

It was dirty, and old, and bloody beyond compare.

Nobody wanted to visit Gotham, to walk its streets and explore its stores and restaurants. 

Gotham was a devil’s home, they said. Alleys that kill the best and brightest without mercy. False smiles haunting the streets.

But the Waynes were not the first to die in an alleyway in Gotham. 

And they would not be the last.

\--

  
  
  
  


The Gothamite was nobody special. Just someone on the way home from work. Or on the way to work, or rushing to buy a late birthday present, or taking a stroll - it doesn’t matter.

They were just a regular person that day.

A regular person, walking down a street in Gotham late at night.

Until they heard a yell.

Yelling wasn't unusual in Gotham, but something about this particular shout made them stop in their tracks.

It sounded like someone in agony, and it was coming from right there, from an alley that they were merely feet away from.

They walked closer, despite every lesson from their youth telling them not to, and peered into the dark of the alley.

It wasn't the right action, they knew; alleys were never safe. And especially not in Gotham.

Idiots don’t live long in the city of the bat, but the yell had been one of pain. The Gothamite was raised knowing to try to do the right thing, and this seemed simple.

Looking around them, they search for something, anything that might help them, might make them feel safer. Trash is everywhere, but one particular thing catches their eye. A bat. 

It feels fitting, somehow, and they walk over and pick it up before stepping into the alley.

\--

It was the  _ Joker. _

They’d gone in, expecting to help someone injured, but the person lying on the dirty ground was just...the Joker. The evil fucking clown himself.

God, it was sickening to even look at him.

"Help me up, won't you?" the Joker giggled out, twisting in his spot. 

"Help you?" they asked, snarling at the idea. "Why would I help you?"

The Joker grinned; his smile grew manic as he cackled, "I'm just a man, after all! Have mercy!" 

That spurred something deep inside of the Gothamite. They stared down at the Joker as their mind flashed back to someone who'd once asked the Joker for mercy, all those years ago. That someone had been a child. 

A child who never got to grow up.

“Mercy? You’re asking me for  _ mercy? _ ”

The Gothamite took a step closer, looming over the Joker.

“I’ve received no mercy while I suffered. No Gothamite has - though it’s not truly about us. It’s about you, Joker. What mercy have you ever shown? What have you ever done good for Gotham?”

The villain sneered up at the silhouette above him. “You get what you deserve.”

A sharp bark of a laugh sounded.

“You know what? You’re right.”

Gotham had suffered at the hands of this man. Had hurt, had broken.

The Joker had brought cruelty to Gotham and her people. 

“You get what you deserve, and that’s the kicker. You don’t  _ deserve _ mercy."

The Joker looked up angrily.

“You’re going to die here, Joker. I am going to take this bat, and you are going to die. It will be painful, and you will beg, beg more than you ever have before.

And I will remember, as you beg, what you have done to Gotham.

I will think about the neighborhoods you burned. Of the children who died. The families that you destroyed. I will remember every single bit of pain that I watched you inflict upon this city, and I will remember your laugh as you delighted in it.

I know you, Joker. I’ve seen you before.

The first time I ever saw you, you were  _ gloating _ . You didn’t even want to kill us, you said - all you wanted to do was let the world know that you had killed Robin.

Robin was a  _ child _ .

Would you like to know a secret, Joker?

Meeting you here in this alley is a dream come true for me. Ever since that moment, ever since you yelled about your victory, I wished this could happen.

And now that it has, I know exactly what I will do.

I will do the right thing. 

I will kill you, for Gotham.

For Robin. For all the other children. For the city that Gotham could be, without you in it.

And I want you to know a few things now, before I start.

First - you deserve this. Quite frankly, you deserve worse.

Second - this is going to hurt. 

And third, last?

You are going to die today, Joker.

It will not be glorious. It will not be watched.

Batman will not kill you, Batman will not save you. I am going to kill you here, in this alley, and it’ll be just like throwing out the trash. Nobody will know my name. There will be no glory to the story of your death.

You will be remembered as a man who died a death that nobody noticed except to rejoice.”

The Gothamite smiled.

“There will be no mercy today, Joker.”

The bat lifted up into the air.

"Prepare to die."

**Author's Note:**

> the Gothamite isn't supposed to be any DC character. rather, i think the people of Gotham deserve to save themselves.
> 
> the anonymity is on purpose. if you want to imagine them as someone, go ahead - but thats not the truth of this story
> 
> this story is about a regular civilian, who decides to show mercy - not to the Joker, but to Gotham.
> 
> fuck the joker. the real mercy is ridding Gotham of the joker, for good.
> 
> (if ur a joker stan, i hate you and fuck off. i'll literally just delete ur comment, i dont give a shit bout yall)


End file.
